Floor mat and element thereof



April 1961 s. FURINESS 2,980,971

FLOOR MAT AND ELEMENT THEREOF Filed Aug. 30, 1957 FLOOR MAT AND ELEMENT THEREOF Samuel Furiness, 436 Clark Place, Union, NJ., assignor of one-half to Joseph B. King, Chicago, Ill.

Filed Aug. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 681,271

2 Claims. (Cl. 20-7 8.6)

I the elements adjacently intact and to enable ready rolling up or otherwise collapsing the mat to remove dirt scraped off shoes and deposited in spaces between the elements. Such elements are rectangular in cross-section and are produced by slicing pieces from a long rectangular piece of rubber, plastic, asphalt composition, or the like. Holes are then drilled at the end portions of each piece to facilitate assembly of the elements into rows as already set forth.

In recent years, ladies shoes have been provided with increasingly smaller heels which get caught easily in the spaces between the elements of such floor mats. In order to overcome this hazard, manufacturers have been decreasing the width of these elements so that the spaces therebetween are smaller than the width of the ladies heels. This latter type of mat, although it eliminates'the problem of heel penetration, has encountered other serious problems. One involves the fact that as the elements are made narrower, there is a greater tendency for the mat not to lie completely flat on the floor but to have a portion or section projecting upwardly, particularly when the mat is laid on the floor after being taken up. These projecting portions or sections often present more serious hazards than heel penetration. For example, they are instrumental in causing the tripping or stumbling of a person whose shoe may become caught thereby. Another difficulty in the case of the narrow element structure is that the dirt scraped off the feet is not very readily removed and the dirt removing capacity of the mat is therefore seriously limited.

The present invention involves the use of elements having a body portion wider than the end portions, as well as other features as will be set forth. Such features eliminate the dangers and disadvantages already set forth.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing in which a preferred embodiment is depicted. Figure 1 thereof illustrates a side view of an element of a mat of the present invention while Figures 2 and 3 present end and top views thereof, respectively. A top view of a portion of an assembled mat incorporating series of elements similar to the element of Figures 1-3, is depicted in Figure 4.

' i c d S m Patent p 2,980,971 Patented Apr. 25, 1961 Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the various figures.

Referring again to the drawing, numeral 1 represents the wide central body portion of the flat element, While numerals 10 and 11 represent the rounded ends thereof. The upper surface of the element is corrugated with an upright corrugation 2 and with angularly directed corrugations 3 and 4 on one side of central corrugation 2, and 5 and 6 on the other side, the angle of each latter pair being oppositely disposed. On the bottom of each unit or element, the same type of corrugations 2', 3, 4', 5' and 6' are provided in mirror-image relation to the corrugations on the upper surface. Holes 7, 8 and 9 may be inserted in the body portion 1, their axes being in a plane parallel to the floor. Also, holes 12 and '13 are provided in end portions 10 and 13, respectively, through which are inserted wires or bars 20 which maintain intact the assembled mat, as in Figure 4.

It will be noted that ends 10 and 11 are narrower than body portion 1. These ends are made of a width such that, upon assembly of the elements, a space 13 is provided between the body portions which is of width narrower than the heel of a ladies shoe, so that there is no opportunity for catching a ladies shoe heel therein. Also, it will be noted that this narrow spacing is achieved without use of narrow strip elements now employed in the art, so that a smaller number of larger elements may be used. The employment of larger elements eliminates the possibility of a bunching or raising of a section of the mat when it is laid, thus avoiding the danger of tripping over such a section. An added advantage of the structure of the present invention is the ease in removal of dirt from spaces 18 by merely rolling up of the mat, and by the increased dirt removal capacity.

It has been found that to avoid engaging heels now Worn on ladies shoes, a spacing 18 between bodies of elements should be about A" when they are tightly held by wires 20. The dimensions of a preferred element of the present invention are about width for the body 1, /2" width for end portions 10 and 11, and an overall length of about 1 /2" for the entire element. Thickness may be /2" between ends of corrugations and about 7 at the base of the corrugations. It is preferred that the width of the end portions be about 60% to of the width of the body portion.

I claim:

1. A floor mat of the type wherein a series of parallel rows of fiat elements are mounted by rods inserted alternately through end portions of adjacent rowclements thereof comprising elements having a single narrow portion on each end and a wider body portion between said end portions, said end portions being disposed tightly against each other, the width of the end portions. being about 60% to 70% of the width of the body portions and the body portions being disposed about one-fourth inch away from each other.

2. A mat of the class described, the body of which consists of a plurality of parallel rows of spaced links, each of said links having an enlarged generally rectangular body portion with a longitudinal dimension and a lateral dimension and with a single narrower generally rectangular in plan view pivot-receiving end element at each end longitudinally opposed to each other, each said end element contacting two other end elements of adjacent links of an adjacent row and being located between them, and pivot members transverse to and connecting the links of successive rows through said end elements which are in end lapping and abutting relation, each said body portion extending laterally beyond each side of said end portions a distance at least equal to 011 of 5 the lateral dimension of said end portions, whereby the space between adjacent body portions permits acceptance of dirt therebetween but prevents acceptance of a shoe heel therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Furiness June 2,

Oakley July 11,

Bodeker Aug. 9,

FOREIGN PATENTS France June 12, 

